Maria Tence on Victoria and Multiculturalism

Mara Moustafine and Maria Tence.

Created:

unknown

Date Added:

21 April 2009

Source:

source not available

Format:

mov (Quicktime);

File size:

6 MB

Length:

02min17sec

Transcript

My view is that Victoria and Melbourne is the birthplace of multiculturalism. If we go back to the 1960s, the – there were a number of reports that came out from individuals who were challenging the White Australia Policy, the lawyers for immigration reform was a group of lawyers that came out of Melbourne University. And they wrote a report which went to Robert Menzies at the time, to argue against the White Australia Policy. Frank Galbaly who was the eminent lawyer who was commissioned by the Fraser Government to look at the arrival programs – immigration arrival programs and the recommendations he made that changed Australian society and changed policy, was a Melburnian.
01:14
So you know, Melbourne and possibly because Melbourne has got large non-English-speaking communities who are very active, all that I think has contributed to the fact that as a city, we’re far more open to cult of diversity, we’re far more accepting, far more tolerant and far more organised and you know, and we’re – today even though the word multiculturalism has been deleted from government departments and terminology, in Melbourne you’ll find that there’s a very strong group of us who will continue to defend not only that word but that movement, because that movement did a lot for our society and like all the other movements, like the feminist movement, it’s something that you just don’t obliterate because it’s become unfashionable. So, you know, you’ll find a group of people here who will continue to defend that word.
02:17
End transcript